Your Silver Sobriety Chip
by arankaG
Summary: Deacon wakes up after the accident with amnesia. He doesn't remember any of the previous week, or the news he received that sent him falling off the wagon. As a matter of fact, he doesn't remember falling off the wagon at all. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All characters belong to someone else. This story premise is mine.

Your Silver Sobriety Chip- Chapter One

* * *

Seconds after the initial crash, Rayna's eyes flickerd open. She knew she hadn't been out long judging by the fact that help

hadn't arrived yet. The truck had landed on its side leaving her hoisted at an awkward angle, head resting on the door

where the window had previously been. Rayna tried to move her head out of the shards of glass and bloody grass of the

ditch they had rolled into. "They", instantly Rayna shifted slightly to where Deacon should have been, he wasn't there.

The gravity of the situation hit Rayna like a ton of bricks, realizing Deacon hadn't put on his seatbelt after she had made

him shift over out of the driver's seat. Just as she had feared in the split second of noticing Deacon's absence, there was a

large hole in the windshield in front of the passenger's seat.

* * *

"Oh God, not again," Rayna thought to herself. This is how it had been last time. But instead of arriving on the scene an

hour later, Rayna was in the middle of it all. She saw the blood on the edges of the glass opening, but she couldn't see

Deacon, her view was obstructed by the cracks like cob webs covering the truck's windshield. Rayna heard the sirens

approaching, no doubt belonging to the emergency vehicles, just as her panic began to set in. She was scared to try and

unbuckle herself in fear of doing any more damage to her body, not really sure how she would escape from the vehicle even

if she did manage to get herself unbuckled.

* * *

She heard footsteps approaching, "HELP!" she cried realizing it was probably about time to make herself heard. Instantly,

she saw a rescue worker looking in at her from the passenger side window, now pointed up towards the sky.

* * *

"We're going to get you out of here, don't worry,"a man donning a fire fighter's helmet told Rayna confidently.

* * *

However, Rayna was quick to object, "don't worry about me…my boyfriend…he went through the windshield." Rayna replied,

noticing her breathing becoming erratic, she tried to get a grasp on it, as she looked with panicked eyes to the man looking

in above her.

* * *

"We've got him don't worry, now I'm going to need you to breath for me while we figure out how to get you out of here,"

the man replied. Rayna was able to calm considerably, knowing that Deacon had been taken care of even with his current

condition unknown to her. This calm continued as the first responders shatterd the car's windshield to get to her, as

they carefully took her down from where she was suspended, quickly bracing her neck while resting her on a rescue board.

She had lost all sense of time at this point, everything happening so fast.

* * *

Rayna had been lucky enough to go her whole life without seeing the back of an ambulance, well at least not with her as

the patient. She had ridden along the many times that Deacon needed his stomach pumped years ago, but not in last

thirteen years. The medic worked diligently over her, asking questions here and there. When they had finally arrived at the

hospital, Rayna was surprised she hadn't blacked out yet. As far as she could tell she was ok, she could wiggle her toes and

feel all her fingers. The only thing causing a problem being a pretty nasty seat belt burn, and the searing headache she was

experiencing. She remembered the blood on the grass she had felt beneath her head back at the crash scene. Rayna moved

her hand up to feel the side of her head, but quickly felt it pushed back to her side by one of the five people standing above

her stretcher working on her injuries.

* * *

"Someone call my sister," Rayna called out to no one in particular. She realized that she hadn't updated her emergency

contact list since her divorce with Teddy. The last thing she wanted was him showing up with the girls. She didn't want to

see Teddy, and didn't want the girls to see her like this giving them any unnecessary worry, they were already going

through enough as is.

* * *

"Will do Miss. Jaymes," replied one of the scrubs clad doctors standing above her, pushing the stretcher along. Rayna

couldn't remember mentioning her name to anyone, now that she thought about it. At first she was taken aback, then

quickly realized that everyone she had come in contact with so far had probably recognized her instantly. Maybe not so likely

in any other city, but definitely possible in Nashville where she had become a household name.

* * *

Her thoughts jumped back to Deacon. Suddenly, knowing that he was being taken care of wasn't enough. She needed to

know if he was still alive, what kind of shape he was in, good or bad. "How's Deacon, is he still alive?" Rayna asked no one

in particular.

* * *

"The man you were brought in with? He's still unconscious," replied one of the nurses. "Right now we need you to

concentrate on you," replied the same nurse.

* * *

Rayna struggled with that idea. Thinking if she hadn't been so concentrated on her self to begin with, she never would have

landed in this mess. She had been anything but selfless, lying about Maddie's paternity not willing to broach the difficult

topic at any point in the last thirteen years. She didn't even consider it an option, considering what it would do to her

relationship with Deacon, and her own daughter.

* * *

Rayna felt an oxygen mask being placed over her nose, except what she was inhaling was making her thoughts fuzzy as

she began to loose consciousness. "Ok, Rayna," said a voice, "We're bringing you in to surgery now, you'll be under for a

little while, while we fix your leg."

* * *

In her anesthesia induced haze all Rayna could think was, "what's wrong with my leg?" With that Rayna had finally lost

consciousness.

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry for the horrendous formatting on this story. This site doesn't make uploading with proper formatting very easy for its authors. Hopefully I'll figure out this issue soon, for all our sakes and readability.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Character's are not mine.

* * *

Your Silver Sobriety Chip-Chapter 2

* * *

Rayna could hear voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. She caught words here and there as if listening to a foreign language she was only just beginning to pick up. "Tour", "Again", "Lucky". What a strange combination of words Rayna thought to herself.

"As soon as I knew they were together again I hoped we wouldn't have to go down this road again." Bucky? She was pretty sure that was her manager's voice, had to be, he was one of the few that knew she and Deacon were seeing each other again.

"To tell the truth, I thought she was still seeing Liam," replied a female voice.

"Liam", Rayna thought to herself, well that must be Tandy, only Tandy knew she had been up to anything with Liam. With that Rayna opened her eyes to see Bucky and Tandy standing one on each side of her hospital bed.

"If you guys want the deets on my relationship status, I hear the gossip rags have an exclusive," Rayna choked out. Instantly there was a straw at her lips, she gratefully took a large sip, then choked again as the liquid met her throat.

"How are you feeling?" asked Bucky. Rayna opened her eyes; she hadn't seen that look on Bucky's face since the last time she got in too deep with Deacon.

"Gah, fine," Rayna replied. "How's Deacon?" she asked.

"Rayna, don't worry about him," Tandy replied. "Focus on you." Again, she was being told to focus on herself, how poignant.

"You didn't answer my question," Rayna said through her exhale. She saw Bucky look over at Tandy before answering.

"He's in a medically induced coma, he had some swelling on his brain. He went through the windshield, he's lucky to be alive. Doctors don't know when he's going to wake up."

Rayna closed her eyes at this news and exhaled again, she didn't know what she had expected to hear about Deacon's condition but she was half hoping he was awake already. "Rayna?" Tandy questioned.

"Yah, Yah. I'm fine," Rayna replied. "Just have to get my thoughts together."

"Ok," Tandy nodded. "You've been out for a few days, the girls have been with Teddy but their anxious to come visit. Teddy and I thought it would be best to keep them away until you woke up, away from the cameras and everything."

"Camera's?" Rayna exclaimed. With that Tandy looked to Bucky.

"Yah," Bucky replied. "Needless to say this in combination with Juliette's loss, you guys are garnering a rather lot of attention right now."

"Oh," was all Rayna could get out. It was crazy to think a few months ago no one seemed to care about her or her music anymore. Suddenly she's back on the front page again, whether she liked it or not.

"You don't have to worry about that though," replied Tandy.

"I have everything taken care of Rayna," finished Bucky. "Actually speaking of that, I need to go take care of some things right now." Bucky got up to leave, "I will see you soon Rayna, Tandy."

"Bye, thanks for everything," Rayna called after him.

"Always," Bucky replied over his shoulder, and with that he was gone.

Tandy collapsed into the chair on the right side of Rayna's bed; she looked exhausted clearly something was going on with her, deeper then this whole mess.

"Are you ok?" Rayna asked Tandy with concern. Tandy looked up with a smile clearly noticing that she had momentarily let her mask slip.

"Of course Rayna, it's nothing, really," Tandy replied. Rayna was only willing to accept that answer because she was starting to feel some pain again. Tandy must have noticed through the expression on Rayna's face because she was quick to jump to her feet. "I'll go get the doctor," Tandy announced. With that she left too, and Rayna was alone in her room.

The doctor was quick to arrive, he checked her vitals, and gave her another dose of pain meds. Mean while Tandy had turned on the room's T.V., flipping through the channels with the remote in her hand. She stopped momentarily on a local news channel, which was showing a helicopter view of Rayna's accident scene from a few nights back. Tandy looked over at Rayna before quickly switching the channel, Rayna didn't object, she wasn't in any mood to hear others critiquing her decisions. She was preoccupied doing that herself, and knew Bucky had left with some unanswered questions as well. Rayna laughed to herself, "I guess this is what happens when I try to live a little," Rayna said out loud but mostly to herself. Reflecting back on the conversation she had with Liam before kissing him back at his studio, that moment felt like a lifetime ago.

"No one blames you Rayna," Tandy replied. "We're just all a little confused as to what happened that night."

"Deacon drove to the Bluebird drunk, I saw him in the doorway after having tried to contact him non-stop that day," Tandy didn't look surprised, it must have gotten out that Deacon fell off the wagon. "He saw that I saw him and went to leave, I caught up to him and pushed him over so I could drive. He continued to drink in the passenger's seat, and we fought. Next think I knew I was hanging half suspended in the air from the driver's seat of his truck." There was a moment of silence as Tandy absorbed what Rayna had to say.

"Rayna, you made the right choice. There was no way you were going to get him to stay put, and you couldn't just let him go," Tandy replied reaching for her sister's hand. Tandy had merely confirmed what Rayna had already been thinking, how could anyone criticize her choice to get in that truck? However, she didn't know if the truth about Maddie's paternity had gotten out yet.

"Is the news out about Maddie?" asked Rayna.

"No, not yet. That missing piece is what's making all the news's coverage so frustrating. They're playing it as if Deacon dragged you a stray."

"What?" Rayna replied confused. Tandy was quick to explain.

"Remember that article written about Deacon a while back?"

"Yah, of course," replied Rayna.

"Well, they're talking about this accident as if Deacon had been back drinking this whole time. Dragging you back into the lifestyle you guys lived back before the girls were born, and of course you followed because of how much you love him." Rayna was feeling a headache coming on listening to her sister's explanation. She had to admit that upon reading that article she too had doubted Deacon, but how could anyone thing she would just follow Deacon blindly back into their old lifestyle? He had the girls now to worry about, care for, and love.

If that had not been enough Tandy had more, "Oh, and they found out about you and Liam."

"WHAT!?" Rayna exclaimed her heart monitor had even started to go off.

"Yah, but don't worry Rayna. The craziest stories come out in moments like these." With that Rayna collapsed into her pillow exasperated.

This was the last time she was ever going to "live a little".

* * *

Author's Note: The amnesia stuff is going to start happening in the next chapter. I just needed to establish some things before delving in to that storyline.


	3. Chapter 3

Your Silver Sobriety Chip

Disclaimer: Characters and certain circumstances aren't mine.

* * *

Chapter 3

Deacon awoke from his coma a total seven days after the accident. At first he struggled with the breathing tube inserted in his trachea, but didn't have the strength to actually pull it out. Before he knew it a nurse had rushed in to his room removing the tube and fiddling with the all the medical equipment that surrounded him. He was being asked what seemed like stupid questions by a doctor, yet still couldn't seem to find the answers. The first few were okay, "Can you tell me what your name is?"

He was surprised when he was able to find his voice, ""Deacon Claybourne," he croaked.

"The year?" the doctor asked. That question had stumped him so he tried to narrow it down to a decade.

"I'm not sure, the late 90s?" he guessed. He couldn't tell if he was correct or not, the doctor's reaction was not very telling.

"Do you recall what happened that landed you here, Mr. Claybourne?" the doctor asked.

"I'm guessing I went on a bender and fell down some stairs," he half joked in reply. No one in the room humored him with a laugh however. In fact, a figure across the room had gotten up from his seat and now accompanied the doctor standing over him, he did not look happy. It was a rather tall, heavily built black man that Deacon could not recall having met before. Yet he seemed to know Deacon well, judging by the fact that he was the only none medical staff in the room when he woke up, based on his lack of scrubs.

"Yah, Deacon something like that," the man said without a speck of humor. Deacon gathered that this man was awfully mad at him, though for what he didn't know.

"If you don't mind me asking," Deacon spat back," Who are you, and why are you giving me a hard time?"

The man looked taken a back with Deacon's response, the doctor finally let his mask slip for a split second, having raised his eyebrows revealing surprise. "Deacon," the man replied, his voice softer this time, "You don't remember me?" By this point Deacon knew he was supposed to be able to place this face, but couldn't for the life of him. "Coleman?" the man tried again. The blank look on Deacon's face suggested that the name added to the face didn't ring any bells. At that point the man named Coleman turned to the doctor, "I'm going to get Rayna in here, see if she can bring anything back." With that the man was gone, and Deacon was relieved. He didn't take to kindly to people's bad attitudes towards his drinking. Sure he ended up here in the hospital, now and again, but he hadn't hurt anyone else in the process, at least not yet.

As the doctor kept fiddling, Deacon got lost in his thoughts, that is until he heard swishing and footsteps becoming louder coming towards his room. The post coma pain was starting to kick in as he felt himself get woozy turning his head to the door. He quickly rested his head back on his pillow facing forward, his eyes closed to try to stop the room from spinning. "Deacon," he heard, it was a women's voice, one he recognized well.

"Ray?" he asked, eyes still closed.

"It's me babe," she replied. Deacon opened his eyes to see the love of his life in a wheel chair at his bedside, her left leg in a cast, with bandages scattered on the rest of her. She reached for his hand, and he gladly took hers, for the first time since waking up something made perfect sense to him, well everything but Rayna's injuries. "Coleman, told me you had woken up, I got here as soon as I could." Deacon could see she was smiling, but she was making that face she made when she was holding something back from him. They had known each other a long while, about eight years, before she cut her own demo or started headlining.

"Ray, what happened to us?" he looked at her with desperation in his eyes, he was clearly shaken up at the sight of her injuries.

"Deacon, what's the last thing you remember?" Rayna asked, holding her breath for the answer. He had to think for a second, but without breaking eye contact he responded.

"I remember...we were back stage in Portland…on your first big solo tour." Deacon replied. Rayna exhaled she couldn't hold back her frown at this, she remembered that night well, but that night had happened fifteen years ago. It was a few weeks before Deacon had gone to rehab for the first time.

Judging by the look on Rayna's face, Deacon could tell he had given the wrong answer…again. His first instinct was to comfort her, "Ray, I love you, if I'm responsible for this," he said gesturing to her injuries. "Then I'm sorry, my behavior starts becoming a problem, when I start hurting you too." When he was finished he could see tears welling up in Rayna's eyes.

"I love you too," Rayna replied, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. Moments later they were awoken from their moment together by a cough coming from across the room.

"Rayna," Coleman said, as he motioned his head towards the door. Rayna acknowledged him and then turned back to Deacon.

"Honey, I'll be back in a bit, you best get some rest", with that Rayna wheeled herself out behind Coleman. Deacon rested his head back on his pillow, so few of the questions he had had been answered. He still didn't know who Coleman was supposed to be, what year it was, or what had landed him and Rayna in the hospital to begin with. He couldn't help but think he had done something stupid again, this time dragging her down with him, one thing he swore he'd never do.

Author's Notes: A bit of a wait on this one, Deacon doesn't know he's an alcoholic, but knows he has a risky lifestyle that hasn't become a problem for him just yet. He hasn't been to rehab yet, hence not knowing who Coleman is.

Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate them. Should have another chapter up tomorrow, and a new story the day after that.


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